Co-owner of vehicle and other party keeps paying late

Location: Illinois, Chicago suburbs

First I want to give some background information so proper advice can be given. I live in the state of Illinois, have a former friend that I am a Co-signer for a vehicle for starting around summer 2024. He refuses to communicate with me, even for car payment related things.

I am getting harassing phone calls and late payment notices from the bank continuously but because he always pays within the 30 day limit it never damages my credit. I've spoken with the bank and they said I could refinance and absorb the loan, but this sound legally muddy.

I checked the Illinois database by the VIN and the title does show that it is "co-owned" and the bank verified my name is on the vehicle title, so in theory I should have rights to make financial decisions for the car. Where this gets complicated is that I have **not** made any payments on the car, I'm only having issues with him not communicating, putting my credit at risk, and not paying *on time*. As of writing this post, he is 12 days late and I've told the bank I will only intervene if it's within 10 days of that 30 day time limit. I really want to avoid paying anything unless I have to, because then I will have to fight to be paid back.

I'm exhausted in trying to communicate with him to pay the bill on time or for him to refinance the auto loan himself. Last I spoke with him he stated he was working on refinancing it but it's been months so this is a blatant lie. I feel used and I'm tired of being taken advantage of.

Essentially I'm looking for one of two outcomes:

Repossess the car and absorb the loan.

Or

Somehow threaten the above to push him to refinance and remove me from the loan.